You Promised
by FicsByZasha
Summary: The war with Gaia and the Romans wasn't supposed to end this way. Not for any of the Seven. Sometimes when things are out of one's control, it is time for heroes. But who are these strange, hooded people? And can they help the Seven and Co., or will they turn out to be enemies too? CAUTION: POSSIBLE BLOOD OF OLYMPUS SPOILERS. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.
1. Chapter 1

Annabeth screamed.

Not because of the various cuts on her body, dripping crimson red, from the bloody war between camps. Nor was it because of the obnoxious rock that she had tripped on earlier (Annabeth was 87% sure she had broken a toe.) It was not even because of the devastating effect that the Romans had done to Camp Half-Blood, her only home.

Annabeth screamed because of the approaching enemy behind Percy.

"Percy!" She shouted tensely, "Percy, watch out!" His attacker glared at Annabeth menacingly and threw one of his daggers at her. She ducked, but the tip grazed her shoulder, making a thin slit in the orange fabric of her t-shirt. Wincing, she bolted toward Percy, dodging other fighters. Her sword was drawn, ready to attack.

Attacking didn't work out to well for Annabeth.

The blond-haired murderer turned around and smiled like a deranged Cheshire cat, except this was no "Alice in Wonderland." This was real life, with real death.

He wiped his hands on his jeans.

"Too bad you couldn't save your beloved boyfriend, Annabeth. He would've been a, ah, _lovely _Praetor."

"Go throw yourself into Tartarus, Octavian." Annabeth snarled. She wanted to torture that boy until he begged for mercy.

"No thanks. I saw how that went for you two, and I'd rather not."

"Where's Percy?"

Octavian stepped aside and Annabeth gasped.

"What did you do to him?"

"Uh, are you blind? Look at him yourself!" Annabeth held the tip of her celestial bronze sword to Octavian's throat. She pointed stiffly at the location where Percy had been.

Percy was gone. Disappeared. Completely and utterly non-existent. Octavian gulped. Where was Percy? He couldn't have crawled away; not after he himself had stabbed the son of Neptune several times! Eyes widened from astonishment, he bolted for his troops.

_Coward,_ Annabeth thought, _he's a stupid, foolish coward. _Blinking back tears, she pushed through the battle scene and ran to find Frank, Hazel, Piper, and the others. She needed to have an emergency meeting. Leo caught up with her as she sprinted past the Pegasus stables. His face was darkened with oil grease, probably from Festus, Annabeth guessed. He grinned half-heartedly at her. That was bad. If Leo of all people wasn't smiling, than something was horribly wrong. Leo was always happy, it seemed.

"Where's Percy?" He asked. Annabeth opened her mouth to speak, but everything came out in choked sobs. Even the words were painful.

"I-I'm so…" Leo was speechless. He knew what it was like to lose someone he loved, so why was it so very hard to give another comforting words?_ Because they're just words, _his conscious whispered, _They are only meaningless words. You can't put comfort and suffering in the same sentence. _Annabeth kept on running, but Leo could see that tears were threatening to spill from her grey eyes.

"Annabeth, stop." He reached for her shoulder to stop her, but Annabeth was faster than he was.

"We have to find the others!"

"Annabeth, please stop!" He shouted. Skidding to a stop, she glared at him.

"What do you want?" She snapped. Annabeth hadn't meant to snap at him. He hadn't really done anything wrong, but all her emotions had busted out, shooting at him. "I'm so sorry, I-I didn't mean to yell at you-"

Leo pulled her closer to hug her. Yeah, she was taller, and it was a tad bit embarrassing. And if Percy had been alive, he would've been pounded within three seconds. But Annabeth was his friend too, and if she was in pain, darn right he was gonna hug her. Salty tears fell freely down Annabeth's cheek, making Leo's shirt wet on the shoulder.

Once she pulled away, they chased down their friends, praying that they were still alive.


	2. Chapter 2

"Are you serious?" Frank pressed his hands into the table nervously. Percy? "And he just disappeared? Just like that?" The mess hall was weirdly quiet, they could still hear the battle sounds outside.

"I don't know, Frank! I just don't know!" Annabeth started to cry again, hiding her head in her hands. Piper rubbed her back assuringly, but she was worried over her boyfriend also. Leo was still searching for him, but so far, there was no news.

Nico had the best idea so far. "Let's stop talking about Percy." His feet rested on the table, relaxed, and leaning back in the chair. "I don't know about you, but Octavian and his minions are winning this war so far. Gaia's dealt with, but not the Romans."

"What would they do if we surrendered?" Leo asked as he walked in. Piper's face twisted into a mournful frown as Leo shook his head. Jason was nowhere to be found. _I swear when he gets back, I'll hit him with a brick for scaring me._

Frank laughed sarcastically, "You are kidding, right?"

"I don't know. Maybe it would be better than having our friends and family getting killed!" Leo suggested shrugging his shoulders.

"They'll kill us anyway!" Frank argued.

"They are kids!"

"Leo, they're demigods. Do you really think 'family and friends' will stop them!"

"Well, it would stop me!"

Everyone was silent as Frank and Leo glared at each other. Finally, Hazel got between them, so as they wouldn't start a fight.

Hazel rubbed her wrist, thinking of a plan. "Frank, I don't know, I think that Leo might be right. I bet we could get most of the demigods out _before _we surrendered, then they'd only have the few of us to capture. Most of them could escape via Pegasus or by the water, maybe even Nico could shadow travel a few of them," Hazel glanced pleadingly at Nico, who nodded slightly, "About five could escape every fifteen minutes, so the other Romans don't notice. The rest of us left could stay. We'd be the sacrifice. We'd be the one getting captured." Hazel's plan was well-thought out, probable, and could be easily done, but it was dangerous, extremely dangerous. Especially for the Seven, minus one. If the Romans could kill Percy, they could kill anyone. Hazel held her breath as she waited for the other's to tell her what they thought.

"Hazel, I don't want you to get hurt. I-" Frank started to say. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Nico rolling his eyes.

"This isn't about me Frank, it's about saving the lives of at least twenty-five other people. If Percy thought they were worth dying for, then I gonna put my two cents in and believe him." Nico rested his arm on Hazel's shoulder, smiling proudly at her.

"I'm with Hazel." He announced. Piper stood up straight.

"Octavian isn't going to lay a finger on my siblings."

"Nor mine." Leo agreed. No one was going to hurt Nyssa.

Annabeth slapped her hand on the table, still sobbing into it, and gave Hazel a thumbs up. Maybe Annabeth said "good plan," or maybe it was "Grape Plague," but either way, Annabeth agreed with her.

Frank felt Leo jostle his shoulder. He realized that everyone was waiting impatiently for his answer. Surrender. His dad would be horrified! So would his grandmother…

But this was his decision.

"I'll tell the other campers," He mumbled. Hazel's face broke into a wide smile and she leaned over to kiss Frank on the cheek. His face felt like it was on fire, and was sure that he probably resembled a tomato.


	3. Chapter 3

"No way I'm surrendering to those moose-headed punks!" Clarisse growled, "We've got to save the camp! They'll take it over and destroy it!"

"At the expense of the camper's lives? That's who I'm concerned about!' Frank argued. Even though they basically had the same dad, in no way were they alike. "We've already made the decision. Are you helping or not?" Clarisse glared at him, and Frank was afraid that she might beat him up. It was definitely possible. Piper had tried using charmspeak on her earlier, but not even that could convince the daughter of Ares to surrender.

"Fine." She muttered, "Me and my siblings will get the Aphrodite kids out of here since they're the weakest."

"Hey!" Piper exclaimed, crossing her arms over her chest. Clarisse rolled her eyes.

"I didn't mean you, stupid." She stomped off, gathering a few of her sibling and they quietly and stealthily helped them escape via Pegasus. Hopefully, the Romans wouldn't see the Pegasus's flying away, or else they could shoot them down with their catapults.

Annabeth was fighting off another Roman while she tried to convince the Demeter cabin to escape. Katie was helping her by growing vines that tangled the Roman's leg. He tripped and fell to the ground with an _umph_. Annabeth grinned and high-fived Katie, but Katie could see a strange sadness in her eyes. The usually happy Annabeth seemed to have disappeared. Now she looked, heartbroken, scared, and all around worn out. Where was the old Annabeth?

"Are you sure this is a good idea Annabeth?" Katie wondered, "You know, surrendering and all.."

"It's not really surrendering, just sort of hiding. We're making them think that we're surrenduring, then once they back off, we'll come back," Annabeth answered, but Katie frowned.

"We want to fight. We could win!"

"Even if we did end up winning, we'd only have, like, twenty campers." Annabeth snorted. It was a stupid thought. The Romans were better equipped, better trained, it seemed, than the Greeks. How could they win? Especially without Percy. _No, don't think about him! It'll only distract you! _But how could Annabeth get _him_ out of her mind. After all they had been through, the second Titan War, Tartarus, the Labyrinth, and this is how it turned out? Him dead and her heartbroken? What was up with the Fates? _They must hate me…_

Although Katie didn't want to agree with Annabeth, she knew that it was a wise decision. They had already lost so many friends, cousins, and brothers or sisters. Travis Stoll was badly wounded, and none of the healers were sure if he'd make it. _He'd better! _Katie thought.

Lou Ellen and the other sons and daughters of Hecate were using spells of invisibility to help them escape. There were only four of them left. Thankfully, they also cloaked Clovis and his siblings, so they could escape. They were trying not to fall asleep on the battlefield (Which Lou Ellen found quite disturbing). Lou Ellen had never seen anyone try to fight off a Roman in their pajamas, but now, she didn't think anything would surprise her.


End file.
